An Accidental Marriage
by Lilly'sOwner
Summary: Shockingly, two people will accidently wed! But, whom? Well, you'll have to read and find out.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaim: I am not J.K. Rowling. I own nothing (except Elizabeth). Don't sue me, not that I have any money to sue for; I don't even have a job. Now I'm depressed. Anyway.  
  
An Accidental Marriage by Me Chapter 1: Average, Ordinary Life  
  
It was on a surprisingly warm day that Elizabeth Halverstone moved into her microscopic apartment, conveniently located in the cheapest district in London within walking distance of The Leaky Cauldron, and therefore Diagon Alley. She had only decided to move to London last week, after having considered the move for well over a year; but it wasn't until her grandfather's funeral last week that she decided working for the Order of the Phoenix was something she could do. So she packed her bags and moved; and after only five days of searching: found an apartment (albeit a closet masquerading as a apartment).  
Despite her good luck in finding an apartment so quickly, it would be apparent to any emotionally dense moron that Elizabeth was not feeling fortunate. On the contrary, carrying heavy boxes up two flights of stairs, combined with the heat, had left her once crisp shirt clinging to her torso.  
It also didn't help her mood that the men she had hired to move her heavy furniture had the combined I.Q. of a sea monkey and the attention span of a nap deprive kinder gardener. She had watched as they battered her bookshelf against the wall and said nothing; but when they dropped her grandfather's chair in the hallway she snapped at them to be more careful.  
Elizabeth decided what she needed was a steamy bath followed by a tour of muggle London; she only prayed that she made it throughout the afternoon without cursing one of the moving men to Tibet, that she thought would create a whole deal of trouble with the ministry that she wasn't prepared to deal with. So she continued to cart large boxes up two flights of stairs, wishing she could use magic; however seeing as her apartment was located in the muggle world that didn't seem like much of an option.  
Thankfully she made it through the afternoon without significant drama; unless you were to consider modifying the memory of one mover, after inadvertently setting what was left of his hair on fire, significant drama.  
It was just as our protagonist was about to lie down on her squishy couch that there came a knock from the door. Cursing the Gods for interrupting her attempt at a nap, Elizabeth opened the door and unconsciously smoothed her hair as she came face-to-face with Bill Weasley: object of many late night fantasies.  
Bill was the reason Elizabeth was currently in England. Not that she had joined the Order only to be with him, though that was a part of it, no, Elizabeth had met Bill seven years ago in Egypt; where she had moved, from Palo Alto, California, in order to study and work in Hyperbaric Medical Labs (HML) in Cairo. They quickly became friends, now best friends; it wasn't until they had known one another for three years that Elizabeth began to see Bill, as the cliché says, 'in a new light.' She never told Bill how she felt; because, as she told herself, there was always something stopping her, like his numerous girlfriends. Elizabeth had to leave HML last year in order to help her mom in caring for her sick grandfather. Now she was in England, working for the Order in trying to stop He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named, and now staring at Bill Weasley.  
"Hey, Liz. See you've moved in," he said as he peered into her cramped apartment.  
"Quick on the uptake aren't you, Bill? How exactly did you know where to find me? I mean I haven't exactly told anyone I was here yet, much less told anyone that I now have an address."  
"You shouldn't under estimate the powers of the Order."  
"Apparently. So. why are you here? Not that I don't want you here; but I'm kind of busy. Unless you want to help me."  
"Me, help. That's optimistic of you. Actually, thought I'd come visit. Maybe we could go out to dinner later."  
"Fleur busy tonight? Have to resort to spending the night with me?"  
"She is busy," he said, "but I want to talk to you," he added quickly, noticing the scowl on Elizabeth's face.  
"Talk to me about what?"  
"You know, how's life, how's Roco."  
"Well, my apartment sucks, the weather sucks, oh yeah, and Roco died."  
"Well. that's the Liz I know and love. I'm sorry about Roco, though. Finest hamster I ever met."  
Was that sarcasm?  
"Bite me."  
"Huh?"  
"Never mind, American expression."  
"Meaning what exactly?" he asked while giving her the kind of smile that made her wish Fleur would go back to France.  
"Ugh, just let me take a shower and then we can go out. I'm so gross right now."  
"I can tell."  
"Ha ha ha. Oh, and thanks for offering to help me move."  
"I was busy today."  
"What waiting for the exact time I was done moving so that you could show up at my door?"  
"Something like that."  
Fifteen minutes later, a personal best for Elizabeth, they headed out for Diagon Alley. As it was now the evening, the temperature had dropped and the trees that lined the street swayed, pushed by a wind that chilled Elizabeth's bare arms.  
Is he blind? Elizabeth thought, can't he see I'm freezing? Give me your jacket you English jerk.  
". so anyway how was.what's it called again?"  
"California. It was okay; I got to visit all my old friends. Unfortunately, I was subjected to my mom's daily lecture on how my attitude is not helping me find a husband."  
"Really wants a son-in-law, eh?"  
"More like a grandchild. Or should I say six grandchildren. Apparently she thinks I will be having a litter and not children. Oh, sorry about that litter thing. How about you, I haven't seen you in such a long time and your letters were very vague. How have you been?"  
"I had to be careful in case the letters were interrupted."  
"Right, because if the Death Eaters found out about what you had for lunch or about your new earring the Order could be in some serious trouble."  
"Oh, sarcasm from Little Lizzie, that's new."  
"Stop avoiding the question. Give me the dirt. How's Fleur? Tire of her yet?"  
"Actually, I have been thinking of asking her to marry me. I still have to think about it."  
"Wow, don't you think that's really soon? I mean you've only known her, what, a year? She can barely speak English, what do you have in common? What do you guys talk about? Oh that's right, you guys don't really talk do you"  
"Why are you acting like this? Just because you're miserable and don't have anyone you have to stop me from finding happiness?"  
"Or, maybe, I'm a friend who thinks that your relationship with 'Frenchie' will hardly lead to a 'happy union'!"  
"Not really any of your business, though, is it?"  
"You're right. I mean, I'm only supposed to be your best friend; what do I care if you chain yourself to a girl who can't even pronounce your last name without adding like, what, six syllables! Knock yourself out, marry her! I'll even carry her train at the 'blessed' event!"  
With that she stomped off; leaving Bill and half the population of England staring at her. Just as she was about to turn around the corner Bill grabbed her arm, spun her around, and stared at her in shock.  
"Go home, calm down, and we'll talk after the Order meaning tomorrow. Okay?" he asked, hoping she would accept his attempt at a truce.  
"Fine.fine. I'll just go home now then."  
"Oh, and don't forget the meeting starts at noon; Dumbledore will make sure that you can find headquarters," he said softly.  
With that he let go of her arm and walked down the street. Elizabeth watched him until he was lost in the crowd, all the while fighting the panic that threatened to overtake her.  
Oh my gosh. How can he marry Her, that French Bitch. Elizabeth was shocked, you see, because for years she had watched Bill date countless beautiful women, never once appearing to be serious about any of them. And Elizabeth always assumed she would gain the courage to tell him of her feelings before he decided to settle down.  
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! What can I do? I need wine, thought Elizabeth and then she stomped the three blocks to her own personal hell hole.  
  
Authors Note: Sorry it's so short. I will try to make the next chapter longer. Also please review; thus ensuring that I, neurotic freak that I am, won't feel under appreciated. Even bad reviews are welcome. Oh and have a great day. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
An Accidental Marriage Chapter 2: Meeting Mayhem (for lack of a better title)  
  
The rest of that night past by in a blur as Elizabeth drank her problems into oblivion aided by a bottle of red wine. However, what had seemed like a good idea last night didn't have the same appeal the next morning.  
The sun filtered in through the bedroom blinds and birds chirped outside the window. Perhaps if she hadn't had a massive hangover Elizabeth would have been more appreciative of the perfect day. As it was she did have a massive hangover, with everything that that implies, and therefore wished that she had a gun to permanently silence anyone of God's creatures that dared chirp outside of her window.  
And then at approximately 7:15 the noise became too much to ignore and Elizabeth rose from her bed and stumbled into the kitchen, where she prepared a strong hangover potion. As the potion took effect and the room came into focus she looked around and was stunned by what she saw. Apparently some time last night in her alcohol induce insanity she decided to unpack all of her boxes. Not so bad, you might think; however rather than put her possessions away she merely dumped all of the boxes contents on the floor: all of her kitchen utensils, her books, her clothes, as well as various other knick knacks.  
What, she thought, was I thinking? I am never drinking again. Ever.  
And so she sat down in her living room and attempted to bring order to her room. Nearly an hour later she was interrupted by a head appearing in her fireplace. The head had intense brown eyes and a kind smile. Said head broke eye contact with Elizabeth and glanced around the room before returning to Elizabeth with eyebrows raised as if to say, "huh?"  
"I was just unpacking," she said feeling sheepish. "And you would be?" she asked breaking the awkward silence.  
"Kingsley Shacklebolt," said the head.  
"Right.well I'm hoping you're with the Order. If not I guess I'm in trouble; and seeing as how my wand is half way across the room there isn't much I can do about it."  
"I am with the Order so you can breathe easily. Dumbledore sent me to give you the location of headquarters."  
And with that Kingsley Shacklebolt reached his hand through her fireplace and handed Elizabeth a folded white note. On the note were the words "The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve Grimmauld Place, London."  
"Memorize that address, okay?" Shacklebolt said.  
Ten seconds later the paper lit fire and the ashes fell onto Elizabeth's recently cleaned cream rug. She was then instructed to apparate a few blocks from headquarters and follow a route that doubled back and changed directions, in order to ensure that she wasn't being followed, and then she should arrive at number twelve Grimmauld Place at exactly 11:30.  
"Your arrival time is critical we can't have too many people arriving at a house that doesn't exist at the same time. Also, try not to be followed and don't get yourself killed."  
"Thanks, I'll try. Okay, have a nice day then."  
And the head disappeared and Elizabeth went back to work cleaning up her mess.  
By the time she finished with the mess it was nearly 9:00.  
Just enough time for a shower, she thought. And then after I've dressed I'll be off.  
Two hours later found her apparating to the designated apparation spot; and a half hour after that found her standing in front of number eleven and thirteen Grimmauld Place. Recalling the message on her note Elizabeth watched as eleven and thirteen moved aside to reveal number twelve. The house was impressive in the fact that it was still standing; the paint was flaking off, shutters hung from the window frames, porch looked to be in the final stages of its life, and the roof looked as though a strong breeze would blow it right off. Undoubtedly had the house not been masked by magical charms a muggle housing commission would have condemned it long ago.  
Walking through the jungle of a lawn Elizabeth worried, that should she survive the trek up the walkway, the porch could only prove to be more dangerous.  
Just as she reached the porch the door opened wide enough to allow Shacklebolt to stick his head out.  
Does he even have a body? Elizabeth wondered as he motioned for her to follow him inside.  
Feeling safe knowing that Shacklebolt would probably rescue her, should the porch collapse beneath her, Elizabeth climbed up the stairs and through the door.  
Inside the house wasn't much better than outside. It was gloomy and oppressive. Turning her head she viewed a wall on which hung the heads of several house elves.  
"Cheerful," she murmured wondering how such a house became headquarters for a group of vigilante wizards fighting against a tyrannical evil overlord.  
"You were expecting, what, a posh suite facing the river?" came a harsh voice from behind her.  
Whirling around Elizabeth came face-to-face with the most hideous display of human flesh. One half of the man's head was hidden in shadow, but the other half was marred by ghastly scars; and through his curtain of hair she could see the most unnatural looking eye starring right at her. Forcing a smile to her face Elizabeth drew herself up to her intimidating height of five feet two inches and calmly replied that she was commenting, not criticizing. Staring at her strangely, the man muttered something that sounded like or very close to, "constant vigilance," before walking past Elizabeth and down the hall where he disappeared into the darkness.  
Deciding to follow him, as she didn't know where to go and he seemed to, Elizabeth set of down the hall, but not before stopping briefly to examine the house elves. They appeared to be real.  
Just as she reached the end of the hall and was about to turn right a burst of color shot out in front of her and knocked her right on her back on the solid, very solid, wooden floor. Glancing up Elizabeth was able to glance at her, what, attacker? Her attacker was a woman of about medium height and sharp features; what stood out about this woman was that her hair was a flamboyant color orange, brighter than Elizabeth would have thought possible.  
The woman tried to untangle her limbs while muttering apologies; however she succeeded only in becoming even more tangled and finally collapsing on Elizabeth for the second time in less than thirty seconds.  
As the woman began again to try to stand, Elizabeth stopped her, saying, "I'll do it. Why don't you just stay still, not move and I'll help you up, okay?"  
"Fine, I'm really sorry; I've been so good for the past week, damn! Oh, I'm Tonks by the way. You must be Liz. Bill's told us all about you; you really work in potions then? No one I know has ever studied that; of course that's probably because Snape teaches it; couldn't see to many people wishing to continue with that kind of torture. So, you're American then? Must be terribly difficult moving to a different country? But I guess you did move to Egypt; that had to have more difficult, what with them not speaking English. Do you like it here so far? Have you visited Diagon Alley? You definitely should."  
All of this was said so rapidly Elizabeth didn't even know how to reply. Thankfully she was saved the trouble of having to come up with a response by Bill, how seeing both women in a heap on the floor stifled a laugh and helped them up.  
"Tonks, Lupin wanted to see you in the kitchen. Something about replacing his broken remberal."  
Tonks grinned sheepishly and hastily made her way to what must have been the kitchen.  
"I see you're meeting people. Try to not go on first impressions; Tonks is actually quite nice when she's not knocking you over."  
"And how often is that?"  
"Ha ha. Look, we have about five minutes until the meeting starts and I just wanted to say I'm sorry about last night. We'll still talk later but I just wanted to say that."  
"I sorry, too; I shouldn't have said those things. Apparently you're serious about Frenchie and I guess I should get to know her."  
"Fleur, not Frenchie."  
"Fine, now help me find some ice; I think that fall broke some ribs."  
  
Sometime Later:  
The meeting had gone well; Elizabeth was able to sit discreetly in the corner and listen to plans without adding anything herself. As the meeting was coming to an end Dumbledore made the announcement that Elizabeth would be joining their ranks; however he was vague about what she would actually be doing.  
As the meeting ended various people stuck around: having drinks and talking. Bill told her that she should stay as well and meet some of the others.  
Being in the crowded kitchen was incredibly uncomfortable for Elizabeth. Being the shortest in the room by at least four inches made her feel like a child and everyone already seemed to know one another very well, so she was forced to stand along a back wall and survey everyone enjoying themselves.  
One person, she noticed, also seemed to stand back from the crowded, eyeing them irritably. Although this person didn't look like the most friendly person in the room (in fact anything but it), Elizabeth decided that she could talk to him.  
"Hi," she said, approaching the stranger, "I'm Elizabeth."  
He stared down at her and did not say a word. Elizabeth began to feel uncomfortable; she didn't people to gawk at her, it always made her feel judged. She was never completely comfortable with her looks. She wasn't ugly by any means, she just felt rather plain. She was very thin and almost had a boyish figure. Her chest was practically flat and her hair was a boring shade of brown. Her redeeming features were her eyes and her smile. Her eyes were a mossy green with gold flecks. And when she smiled her eyes lit up.  
Beginning to feel incredibly uncomfortable and feeling her face begin to heat up, Elizabeth was just about to walk away from the man.  
"I know who you are," he said, eying her coldly.  
"Well, now you say your name."  
"These are the rules?" he asked, disproving Elizabeth's previously held notions on how arrogant people could sound. Perhaps he was challenging her in some way.  
"Not rules, so much as the way conversations usually go. I say my name, you say yours, I say something funny, you laugh, maybe you say something funny, then I laugh, and then we lapse into awkward silence."  
"My name is Professor Snape."  
Where have I heard that name before? Snape, Snape, Snape.hmm.  
"Oh you're a teacher, right?"  
"Unfortunately. Potions."  
"That's what I do."  
"Not well, I'm sure."  
Then before she could defend her potion making abilities, the man Bill pointed out to her as Lupin stepped up and giving them both smiles turned to Professor Snape.  
"Severus, what are you still doing here? Don't you have to rush back to the dungeons?" Lupin asked playfully, earning himself a glare from the feared potion's master.  
"I stayed to give you this," Snape said, handing Lupin a goblet full of some kind of frothy potion.  
Catching Elizabeth's quizzical glance, Lupin said, "Wolfsbane potion. Severus brews it for me."  
"Oh," she replied.  
Lupin then downed the potion, pulling a face.  
"Positively disgusting."  
"Why don't you add sweetener?" Elizabeth asked.  
"Sugar makes it useless. Aren't you in potions?" Lupin asked, trying to be polite.  
"I am in potions; and sugar does make it useless; sugarless sweetener, however, doesn't affect the potion at all. Equal, the muggles call it. A potion master from Germany discovered that while vacationing in America a few months ago; it was written about in all the potion's magazines."  
"I hadn't heard," replied Snape; and he began to exit the room but not before glaring slightly at Elizabeth.  
"Don't think we're all like that; Severus has just never been a particularly friendly person. It doesn't help that he hated me in school," Lupin said.  
"Not particularly friendly? You don't say."  
"Come with me," he said, grabbing her arm, "I want to introduce you to some people.  
The next twenty minutes went by in a blur. Names were exchanged, stories were told; Elizabeth desperately wished she could take notes. And then dinner was announced; many people left but a few stayed to eat. At dinner Elizabeth got to meet all of Bill's brothers and his sister Ginny, who in Elizabeth's opinion was the sweetest thing alive. She also met Hermione Granger, best friend to Ron Weaseley, the youngest brother. The two were also friends with Harry Potter, who would arrive at Grimmauld Place in a few weeks.  
It wasn't until after dinner that Bill and Elizabeth were able to speak. They decided to leave headquarters and go back to her apartment.  
"I am really sorry," Elizabeth said as soon as the door was closed and they were seated on the couch.  
"I didn't know you guys were all that serious."  
"We are. At least I am. I mean, you knew me before; did you honestly think that I would ever even consider marrying someone. I just need to feel her out a bit; you know, see how she feels about marriage."  
"Right. well good luck," she said, trying her best not to vomit.  
"Could you help me?"  
"Well, I think me asking Fleur to marry you would be a bit strange. She might not like it."  
"No, what can I do to find out how she feels about marriage?"  
"Umm.well.umm.you could try.asking her.maybe? I don't know. I've never even been close to marriage myself; much less considered how to ask a girl."  
"Could you think about it, for me."  
"Well, okay. Fine."  
Fantastic, she thought, not only am I too much of a coward to tell Bill how I feel about him, I am actually helping him propose to another girl. Why don't I just throw myself in front of a train while I'm at it? I am pathetic; the most pathetic person in the world.  
"So how about you, eh, got any prospects?"  
"Yes, I keep them in my closet."  
"Come on be serious. You know, I think Lupin wouldn't be opposed to spending some *wink*wink* quality time with you."  
"Oh, he wouldn't be 'opposed' you say?"  
"He's very nice. Bit old for you, but."  
"But, what?"  
"I'll find you someone. I want you to feel the happiness I am feeling."  
"You're becoming so sentimental, Bill. Would you like a tissue?"  
They spent the rest of the night catching up with one another. Relationships weren't brought up; and Elizabeth found herself forgetting her previous problems. It wasn't until Bill reminded her to think of solutions for his Fleur problem that Elizabeth felt a pain in her heart. And as she shut the door behind Bill she began to cry.  
  
Authors Note: Hope you enjoyed. Have a great day! 


End file.
